There’s an ancient proverb that says, “Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run. Hurry and scurry puts you further behind.” The trap of hurrying and scurrying – or being overly busy – is no new phenomenon. It can be difficult not to fall further and further behind. However, there are some methods to help combat the busy trap which will also give you peace of mind and save time and money.
Plan
No one gets to their goals or destination without a plan. If your days and weeks are to be without hurry and scurry, you need a plan. I typically use a paper planner and a giant desk calendar that hangs on our refrigerator to write down what’s going on in our family. You can choose to use Google Calendar or an app. There are so many great FREE printable resources (I love this planner and this daily action sheet). Whatever you choose to use, be sure you know you’ll actually make the most of it before investing too many dollars. And then, spend time weekly adding new dates and reviewing the week ahead. Try to choose a set time to conduct such a review. Once you’ve outlined your calendar, I’d also encourage your to plan your meals. On Queen of Free, I have a FREE Printable meal planner that will help you track both your menu and your grocery list. To begin the process, throw open the cabinets, fridge, and freezer to determine what you have and plan the first fews days based upon that.
Prepare
Let’s face it, none of us has the time to chop two pounds of vegetables every night before whipping together a gourmet meal. It’s important that when you do have time, you batch cook what you can so on busier nights you’ll have entire meals or at least portions of those meals already prepared. I typically like to keep fresh washed spinach, chopped onion, chopped red pepper, and mushrooms on hand. These vegetables can easily make a salad, top a pizza, be used for fajitas or in a pasta dish. Sometimes, I also cook double the meat necessary for a meal and freeze the pre-cooked meat in a freezer bag or reusable container. Then I can quickly prepare anything from chili to tacos without the energy or time it would take to make something from scratch. Even if it’s just boiling eggs, if you can spend a few minutes of preparation and the investment of time will pay out in the future. ProTip: If you can, do this right after coming home from the grocery store before the food settles into a more permanent home. I’m also a big fan of the automatic brew function on my coffee pot.
Pack
Life is crazy first thing in the morning. There are people to wake up, breakfasts to fix, showers, backpacks, clothes, and an odd assortment of household chores all to accomplish before 8 AM. The last thing you really want to think about is packing a lunch box. That’s why on Sunday evenings, I pack all of the individual elements for lunch boxes before the week begins. Pre-bagging chips and veggies, even making sandwiches and other snacks into serving size portions makes the race out the door a snap. Even young kinds can pack their own lunch if they know that they get one of each item in their box.
Persevere
I would LOVE to tell you that I do all of the above each week without fail. If you’re anything like me, some weeks you rock out the other three Ps and other weeks don’t look as pretty as you hurry, scurry, and fall further behind. Life is a marathon, not a sprint. So if you find you’ve gotten in a rut or veered off track, today’s your day to evaluate and see what you might be able to do to course correct. What cues can you place in your path to make sure that you spend intentional time planning, preparing, and packing each week. If a particular method has failed in the past, it might be time to try something new. Just don’t give up on careful planning because you’re “not good at it” or fell off the wagon. You must persevere in your practices to be successful.
Life can be busy but a few steps of intentionality will help keep your feet on the right path. How do you keep from feeling overwhelmed by your schedule?
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[…] It’s fall break here in the Queendom. Somehow that means that everyone else gets a break except for me. In fact, I feel like I pull double duty during fall break, working to fix both lunch and dinner everyday for everyone. That means I headed to ALDI this morning (after cleaning out the fridge which was just ew friends. Did you know turkey pepperoni could go bad? Because it does. And it is nasty.) to stock up on all sorts of things. I’m working the crockpot again this week and trying to do as many of the Four Ps to Save Time and Money by Avoiding the Busy Trap. […]